Roland SH-4d // in-depth oscillator models and mod matrix demo
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- čas přidán 20. 06. 2024
- #roland_xps_10 #sh4d #tutorial #demo
Tutorial demoing what each of the SH-4d Oscillator models can do, and more importantly what they can sound like because that's not available from the manual - :)
What's interesting here is that the mod matrix options change per model. For example, some have 2 slots, others have 4 and the wavetable oscillator has an additional envelope to auto play through the wavetable shapes, and this becomes available in the mod matrix as a source for all the destinations.
In other words, the basic sound engine is very simple, like the vintage units, but you can go more complex if thats your thing.
/ starskycarr
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► Clubbing TV From the Studio:
• From The Studio
0:00 What's this for?
0:35 The bit I missed - SHIFT+ OSC TUNING
2:11 4d and 3d PWM works on all shapes
3:04 What does FAT do?
4:19 Moog Style Huge Bass
5:49 Let’s try a Hoover - it works!
8:52 Complex Modulation
9:58 Mod Sources Change per Oscillator Model
12:48 SYNC
14:43 SH-101
19:00 Juno 106
24:18 Cross FM
27:59 Ring Mod
29:32 A bit of HP
29:51 Wavetable
32:09 Chord
34:50 Drawing
37:56 PCM
41:00 Wrapping Up
@rolandglobal - Hudba
Holyshit this is the deepest synth I now own. People who need to point out negative aspects of a synth clearly do not make or release music, cause thier ego spends too much time complaining. The SH 4d sounds spectacular, this is a sound designers dream, it is plenty deep enough to make some insane sounds. I feel this synth was aimed straight at Elektron's Syntakt. This is NOT a beginners synth. You need to know your way around sound design and if not, don't even bother looking at this piece of gear. Well done Roland. Wow.
I think it does actually make a good synth for beginners too. From the large amount of varied presets, to the fairly intuitive controls , it’s a synth that’s as simple or deep as you want it to be. I had zero experience with patch design until I grabbed one, and I’ve really been enjoying coming up with my own sounds on the SH4D .
It's the kind of synth that can be learned to play it's basic functions by a beginner in less than a day, and then will keep giving you more as you learn the various functions over the weeks and months. So it is a great way to go from beginner to advanced if stuck with. I think it's a lot easier to get your head round than an Arturia minibrute 2S for example.
Despite some negative feedback on this device in the comments, I have to say that I ordered it right away. Perhaps it's because I have plenty of other synths and samplers that I'm not too concerned about what it's missing, but more looking at what the device has to offer in its current form. The way you can make some good sounding sounds quickly appeals to me, you also have a good effects section and with many (normal sized) physical buttons you can adjust the most important parts without too much menu diving. Exactly what I was looking for next to my current devices. Thanks for making these videos!
im getting mine tomorrow.
@@technodrone313 Mine is delayed at Thomann. Unfortunately I have to wait a little longer.
Oh :) looking forward to listen to this 🤘
Roland gives you more bang for the buck maan
Would you say you're still happy with your purchase?
Amazing how everyone took a dump on this thing saying it was cold and it sounds thin...clearly they don't know what they're talking about...inside 5 minutes, Starsky has some warm, fat, deep sounds. This thing is a great versatile desktop that which is going for a song (no pun).
7:36 You're the one and only dominator!
Super follow up video - appreciated - thank you.
Thanks.
Just got one of these. If you set each track to the same midi channel and use the SH4D model on each track with 4 sine oscillators, you can turn this into a 16 oscillator additive synth. And since each track has an eq, plus 3 filter modes , you could could do some interesting layering/sculpting.
I should try that!!
"Analog Feel" - that takes me back to my D-70, - that's one synth I don't miss.
Quality demo, cheers - It's a quality unit sound wise, definitely very capable in the sound design department, my only gripe would be those little round buttons, superficial I know, but other than them I think the unit looks very Roland,
- that said, I am currently considering the LXR-02, so they're not a deal breaker.
love to ALL, feel no hate
Do you mean the small buttons or the bigger ones on the sequencer/"keyboard"? I actually rather like the bigger round buttons on my LXR-02, they feel responsive enough and are just large enough that you (probably) won't have too many fat finger mistakes. My only beef with the LXR is the smaller buttons that are used for switching between menus and parts/saving and loading, but even those aren't too big of a deal. I use mine when performing live and it hasn't been much of an issue.
Great breakdown!
Nice demo, thank you !
Great run through dude
Great vid! You really show the details of the synth what I was looking for. Now I'm really consider buying it. I think it makes a good addition next to my Analog four. Keep on making these kinds of awsome vids!
Thanks.
Nice follow up vid . PWM on all shapes is one of my favorite features on the Zencore engine so glad that made it over .
More Wavetables ( user + ) more PCMs and port at least the P5 filter if not all the zencore filters for more flavors with additional sequencer capabilities ( looking at an old SQ80 for reference smh ) would make it a much more desirable synth and push my G.A.S. From a 5-6 to a 9 or 10 for it to join My MC707 for a more dedicated synth workflow ….Roland if your crowd sourcing update ideas 😅
The perfect synth to ambient music!
Hoover patch! Thank you. A crucial test imo, and it sounds good!
But it has no oboes, flutes, or clarinets! This is a huge disappointment for anyone that wants to make brain-melting Belgian techno in 1991.
Got mine 3 days ago and i just love it-owning a lot of roland gear,but this device is,like the tr8s,a live monster!! The only thing i miss is external out to route the drums into mx1...the ability to mute drum instruments while being in another sound source is a genius thing
40:20 to the end of the PCM section: good demonstration of there can be a lot going on to try and keep track of, even with a "simple" synth that isn't KPF.
Also, the draw osc looks so much more fun to experiment with on a Fantom sized screen. This thing is like a gateway drug between the J6&T8 world and the Fantom. It even LOOKS like a knobby stepping stone. It's good that they included so many physical controls, and a bigger screen than they could've gotten away with. It will be interesting to hear this next to a Minifreak, and interact with both.
I got mine 2 weeks ago and have used for hours upon hours every day since it arrived. It is very "exploration" friendly for the most part. Eventually I will get an Arturia Keystep (or something similar) to use with it, as the onboard sequencer and keyboard buttons are limiting, but I knew this well before I purchased it, and overall, I have no complaints. For $649 (us) brand new, not sure there is anything else out there that can do/sound/entertain more than this has for me. I'm 100% happy with the SH-4d, and can work around the few limitations.
Thanks for the much more comprehensive deep dive into the osc models! If you still have the unit, a focus on the new filter section would be appreciated. Its cool we get to hear a bit of the LPF drive plus you give us a couple seconds of the HPF but I still can't find a proper demo of the -12db BPF. Also is the separate -6db HPF knob a series/parallel filter? Manual doesn't mention.
Thanks for the in-depth video! This thing sounds really great.
Just watching Your Review video, funny little skit at the start, you give David Attenborough a run for his money. I was waiting for your videos on this, I think your one of the best Sythersizor device testing youtubers. I trust your opinion.
High praise indeed. Thanks.
@@StarskyCarr Keep it coming.
Wow, this box has split opinion in a very - Rolandesque - way...! Sounds great though and you show its charms off so well Starsky
Nice video as always! I have the Jupiter XM but this seems more 'fun' to me and a lot quicker editing/designing. Tempting
Idem...
The ring mod engine on sh4d is my favorite of any synth I have because it also allows me to modulate all sorts of parameters with it. I've gotten tones from it I normally would spend a while on my fm synth to create
I love being able to use draw osc in a sequence my modulating ... not only the slider levels per step. But also the slopes of all 4.
I know this works during playback because when i hold down those 4 white buttons below the sliders while it's going and I'm on that oscillators channel, i can see on the screen the slopes also changing.
Makes for some interesting modulation. Unfortunately no modulating of the wave edge yet.
The step filter effect is cool! I never really dived into that yet.
Hello! Thanks for the video! How do you think it compares in terms on sound design and quality of sound to the Korg Minilogue XD?
Hi Starsky, really comprehensive vid and demo of the depth of this machine. Thanks for the great content, much appreciated in the community. A question for you and to others commenting. Would you know if an MPC Live /One or X can see all USB channels so that they could be multitracked and fixed further in an MPC? I know my MPC can see my X32 rack via USB. Could be quite a powerful combo for any MPC owners.
If you mean could the audio come through via channels on USB I doubt it - you need a driver for the audio USB to work. As far as midi is concerned I think it should but have never tried it.
Wonderful thank you 🎉😂❤
Very interesting machine, thanks for the demo. I wish to know how I would set the glide and if I can have glide between overlapping notes only?
There's the option for legato or 'normal' glide.
I like it, seems like a good buy. Using it to sync with other hardware synthesizers would be a blast!
This is exactly what I intend to do with it. But also impressed with its own abilities. I’d like to control the Prophet 5 with the sequencer and the arpeggios.
Awesome demo as always. One thing I haven't seen and maybe I overlooked it, is there a stability control on the oscillators and filters to give it that randomness of the a real analog? I know the Zen core stuff has this and it works extremely well, perhaps the best feature that ACB never really did right. If it has that I think this synth is a winner.
Its got a 'analog' function in the tone menu for all oscillator types which destabilises the tuning - from gentle to absolutely f*kd :)
Keep ‘em coming. Cool synth. One question. I know no song mode or chaining, but how preset + pattern work? Does preset own pattern? Can you copy pattern across synth parts, presets? How it all works. It’s no groovebox, but is it easy to organize/save/copy ideas. Thanks!
The manual has tones and patterns as separate saves. I believe you can copy patterns, but it’s unclear if you can copy a pattern to another bank.
You save your tones independently - so they're referred to by the pattern. If you change it... save it as another patch. You can copy patterns to another bank, and simply extend a 1 bar to 2/4 bars as it replicates what's in there. you can copy whole patterns, just the part or steps. That's probably another complete video tbh.. its not hard, but I've not done enough of it to give a confident demo yet.
@@StarskyCarr That’s one of my pet peeves of contemporary instrument design. Seriously each pattern should contain its own copy of each patch. There’s no reason with the inexpensive storage technology we have now for this to be the case, likely they’re cheaping out on internal storage with that decision.
@@StarskyCarr Sounds great, thanks!
@@sub-jec-tiv It could also be a creative choice. If, for example, you;'re using the same patch across a few patterns (if you're playing a track/song over a few patterns for example) then having the same patch on each is useful. So if you change the bass tone it remains the same across the patterns. I think there are pros and cons with each option.
You can fine tune the osc, without menu diving, by holding down shift and turning the pitch knob. To change the pulse width, hold the shift and turn the timbre knob. I’ve had the synth about a month
Hi Kenny, thanks for that.. another couple I've been doing but omitted from the video.. duh! Its funny how you can focus so much on trying to give a comprehensive breakdown that you miss some of the basics!
🤓👍
hi Kenny. I need to thank you, because while creeping on your profile to see if you are Kelvin Larkin's brother, I found a video about optimizing your studio monitors and after a half a bottle of wine and some napkin trigonometry, I made some changes that I'm pleased with.
@@negativesaucer excellent… now that’s a community! 😀
@@negativesaucer Ha! Nice one! 💪🏿❤️👍🏿
Do you know the song Dominator from Human Resource? At 7:02 it sounds just like that, so you probably do. Thanks for showing this wonderful Device.
I couldn't figure out what the dash meant in the manual. As in the PCM model to change the LEDs. Now I know, not that I'll ever use it haha!
So if you could choose one, would it be this or the MC707. The hands on immediate control offered by the SH4d or the full Zencore sound engine in the MC707. I’m also interested in how the polyphony compares as it is often reported the MC707 quickly chews through its 128 voices in complex patches, and there are already lots of demos with the SH4d making thick sound with its 60 voices.
I have the mc707 and I’m considering getting the sh4d, I don’t think one can replace the other, the 707 is best as a performance machine, the sh4d is a desktop synth and a portable sketch pad for ideas creations.
I think they serve different purposes. Technical differences and capabilities of the Zencore vs this more "optimized" engine aside, the SH-4d is primarily a multitimbral synthesizer with a great hands-on interface. You pick this one if you love sound design or want a synth to perform sound shaping on live. The MC-707 is a device if you are primarily interested in writing songs. It has 8 tracks, a more capable sequencer, lots of live performance tweakability of the sequencer (vs the synth) such as Last Step, direct shortcuts for playback modes, multiple clips per track, 8 discrete tracks, song mode, etc etc.
@@sinewaymusic I think the 4d has first step, last step, direction etc. I don’t see a huge difference between the two sequencers if I’m honest from the videos.
@@AcidAlex You're right that the features are technically there on the SH-4d too. The difference, which ends up being massive, is in how the interface is designed to help you make use of them. On the MC series, these things are a button press away. You can randomize the playback of a track's clip by holding down the track number and pressing ">", or you hold down Track+Seq to engage Last Step. On the 4d, you access these things via menu diving and scrolling or using arrow keys. This means that you will not be able to use these in a real jam situation, but instead these are utilities you can engage when noodling in the studio.
But the key difference is in how the sequencers on the MC series manages clips and lets you mix and match different clips per track and even chain them up into "scenes". Another big difference is the 128 step capability (vs 64 on the 4d). All these things add up to making song writing much more straightforward on the "real" grooveboxes. Then the last difference is the overall project management. On the MC grooveboxes, all sound presets are stored within the project and you don't have to worry about saving things separately and maintaining different copies of the sounds across different patterns/clips. On the 4d, you would have to set up separate sound presets for different patterns or find yourself having the sounds reset to the default state each time you switched pattern. Even the simplest song with just two different patterns would require setting up two sets of 4 sound presets to support smooth transitions (assuming you wouldn't just use the synth as a static sound module).
All in all, I'd say that the 4d sequencer is perfectly adequate for sketching out song ideas, but it's not a replacement for the sequencing capabilities of a proper Roland groovebox. Hope that makes sense.
@@sinewaymusic yeah I see your point :-)
Regarding the pattern/tone saving, I think they’ve tried to address one of the biggest complaints I see of the MC-707 which is the inability to save individual presets or drum kits. At least you can do that on the 4d.
Looking at the manual, you have the option to have a pattern reference the tones that you used, either by overwriting them with any tweaks or by saving new tones to keep the original preset intact. Seems quite flexible to me, although an additional option to save the tones with the pattern (without having to save each tone to its own slot) would be welcome.
Thank you for this video! Do you have any idea of the number of polyphonic voices for the Juno-106 (more than 4 I hope)?
Yeah you can reserve up to 60
Although I’ve not tried 😂
I think each oscillator is a voice...
@@StarskyCarrReal world voice count would be appreciated. The Zencore engine for example uses up additional “ voices “ for super saws , specific filters types , and effects . This maxed at 60 sounds great , but unrealistic . How far from realistic though ? For example dose a 4D parch with 4 super saws or 4 Juno oscillators and effects use up 20 voices for a monophonic patch ?
@@Death_By_Media it says max polyphony is 60 voices in the manual ‘varies according to the sound generator loaded’
This is an easy ‘Yes’!!! 🏆🏆🏆
Question - one thing I haven't seen clarified - ignoring the sequencer/ rhythm section, and just using this as a multitimbral synth module, do you know the actual polyphony limits of the individual parts? Like, is the Juno mode limited to 6 voices? How many voices do the 4 and 3 osc modes take up?
Putting a video together now trying to get to the bottom of it! Looks like each oscillator is a voice.
@@StarskyCarr Right on! That will be extremely helpful info to have.
This seems really cool........... If you dont already have any synths that make these sounds or have the capabilities. Other than that, I think all of these synth companies are running out of ideas as this looks/has the feel of recent Korg gear. I'm still not sure if real time recording is a thing on this because the videos I've watched are calling it "live motion"? I still wonder why different companies purposely chose to have different names for the same functions. I'll probably cop this since some of my recent boutiques have mysteriously gone missing.
You can real time record (I demo it in my last video), or step input. You can live tweak 4 lanes of motion or go into individual steps.
How does this SH-4D compares to the MC707?
if i was using another drum machine and want to hook up another Synth to the Sh-4d and sequence a 5th synth via the rhythm track can it sequence polyphonically like the tone tracks, so I don't have to sacrifice a tone track for the external synth
Good question! I assume so but haven’t tried it. It sends MIdI but I’d have to check if you could tie drum hits for longer chords.
@@StarskyCarr Would be cool if that was the case, i'll be grabbing one anyways, sounds great to just sketch with on the couch, great vid mate
Can you change the Osc waveform in the Chord model?
No it’s only what I show here. You ca make 4 note chords on the 4s model by separating the notes per oscillator - just takes more time and not as easy to modulate etc.
@@StarskyCarr actually I just took a look at the manual page 35. Looks like you can change the waveform between sine, tri, square and saw using the OSC 1-4 buttons.
@@AcidAlex cool. There’s so much in here - when I got it the manual wasn’t ready so I found stuff then forgot how I found it … then forgot I even found it! Like this. That rings a bell.
@@StarskyCarr yeah I did think you probably didn’t have access to the manual at first. Anyway, it’s good that you can change waveforms :-)
This or jd08 for 90s sound?
in the mod matrix, the first OFF has CC, are those MIDI channels? If so, what would be the application there?
It means you can use CC from your daw (that’s if the CC is a mod source - not got it in front of me to check). In Logic, for example, there’s a really flexible LFO that can send CC, or you could draw in CCs to automate the modulation any way you like.
@@StarskyCarr gotcha. Any chance of doing a how to video showing examples of the mod matrix? Seems to be a section that people seem to skip and or quickly go through, even though it seems to be a very powerful creative tool. I have a unit on the way and am excited to get into it, cheers
@@tomfoolery4077 I think thats because there are different options depending on what oscillator model you're using - so demoing in depth and showing all the options would be a pretty tedious thing to watch (and to make). Also, once you have a quick play and try a few modulation routings it all falls into place. What I do here is about as complex as it gets - but there's lots to explore.
@@StarskyCarr Thats fair, appreciate the reply.
Yeah. I need a SH and Juno compare to the real deal video!!
did you see the short demos on my first video?
There is no unison on this synth?
add some orchestral pcm tones and I would definitely buy this
Listening on my live buds, That chorus introduces some serious white noise. 😬 I had a korg monologue that was noisy and my volca fm is too under certain circumstances.
You can turn that off by setting the chorus noise to zero if you want
I think Roland are emulating the noisiness of the original Juno chorus, but thankfully you can reduce the volume of the noise right down to zero. I guess that in the time of records made with actual Junos, recording to tape meant the highest frequencies got rolled off "naturally", but with modern systems the "white noise" frequencies can be very tiring on the ears.
How about running this sh4d directly into an mpc over USB... 12 tracks?
I'm gonna give it a whirl.
Roland uses proprietary drivers for their digital audio MPC works with class compliant devices
The Roland Fat Controller is in r&d with his clipboard... 4 voices, ok, tick. 4 filters? nope nope, just one filter allowed
Q. can it do 303 bass though
There's 303 style bit in my Voodoo Ray 101 demo in the original video. Its not really a 303 though!
Would anyone happen to know if this synth is any good or capable of emulating Jupiter 4 style sounds?
It doesn’t emulate the Jupiter 4 - so if there’s specific tones you’re trying to recreate then I’d say not. If you’re after a more generic tone then it’s as close as you’d get with a Juno emulation (if that makes any sense whatsoever!)
@@StarskyCarr Thankyou very much for answering, appreciated. Unfortunately I am used to Roland not coming back with updates and dropping their products as fast as they release them.This SH-4d Would be a nice format to add further engines later on, though I lack knowledge if its even possible compared to, say, Arturia's Microfreak for example. Oh well...maybe one day. Cheers
Man I was so excited when I read you're gonna dive into the modmatrix. And then super sad to have you skip over it again, kinda. I'd really like to know all destinations, no other video talks about it and they are not specified in the manual.
It’d be a very tedious video tbh. The options aren’t the same for every model as they all have different functions. So you’d have to talk through all the options on all the models. Shame there’s not a Roland graphic.
I'd buy it just for the hoover bass 💀💀💀💀
How on earth the old as dirt Access Virus can have two independent filters with a half dozen filter types, that can be run in different configurations, and this shiny new Zen Core machine has... one generic multimode filter, is beyond me. This could have been an amazing little synth - and I guess for the price you get a lot - but this seems like a missed opportunity. It can't be that hard to emulate different classic filter models per oscillator type on an all digital synth.
Roland has updated the tr8s and other units numerous times. Id be willing to bet we will see some updates to this as well in the future.
I'd buy this in a second flat with that update
Still, they should call it a groovebox. Its not a real synth like something dedicated to some kind of synthesis. But hey, it gets you started with whatever you do.
You used the Juno wave to make the hoover sound andnot the Juno Oscillator?!
The Juno 106 doesn't have that oscillator - its from the alpha Juno. The sawtooth on the 106 can't be modulated (although you could do it with the pulse PWM).
Anybody else find it slightly annoying that they put the CCs in front of the Onboard modulation sources in the Mod Matrix?
You’ll have to scroll through all that every time? Seems a little bit of an oversight
Good point!
Yeah I thought it was an odd choice, maybe they’ll update that
I saw in another video you can also assign source/destination by turning knobs/moving sliders - at least for those things on the front panel.
@@wavesequencer yes press enter when you're at the menu item you want to change (source or dest) and just tweak the knob. I should've demo'd that.
@@StarskyCarr You did a fine job already :) quite tempted, but need to hear more synth sounds played on a keyboard. Interested to hear if it can do some more complex evolving pads given the extra modulation available if digging deeper.
Mah...
well done La....... all the other reviews made it sound like a cheese box inc roland themselves. Something I've never understood.. all that money on RnD/ manufacturing only to show case it via a non musical nerd with zero communication skills or like molten music, using it as a platform to bash us with trans politics.